{"id":324283,"date":"2026-06-30T05:01:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T05:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/324283\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T05:01:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T05:01:28","slug":"drake-apologized-to-the-janices-of-miami-with-cold-hard-cash-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/324283\/","title":{"rendered":"Drake apologized to the Janices of Miami with cold, hard cash"},"content":{"rendered":"

No matter who you are or what you were doing on Sunday, June 28, you didn\u2019t have as good a day as Janice.<\/p>\n

She deserved it, too. She\u2019s had to spend the past month hearing \u201cJanice STFU\u201d<\/a> every hour on the hour. (Thanks, Drake<\/a>). The down-tempo hit that interpolates its hook from Lykke Li\u2019s 2011 hipster anthem \u201cI Follow Rivers\u201d<\/a> debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late May. His 14th chart topper surpassed Drake\u2019s tie with Michael Jackson and made him the all-time record holder for the most No. 1 hits by a male solo artist.<\/p>\n

His win came at the expense of Janices worldwide, so Drake decided to make things right in a very \u201cDrake\u201d way: He hosted Janice apology parties in Miami, Houston, Los Angeles, Toronto and New York City, with anyone named Janice asked to RSVP and bring a valid government ID to prove their Janiceness and enjoy three hours of free food, drinks and music.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a Janice, but I know a Janice, and I was delighted to be a Janice +1 for the fete at Forte Dei Marmi in South Beach. I knew it would be a once-in-a-lifetime event \u2014 when else will you be in a room with 30-plus Janices of all ages, races and backgrounds? \u2014 but nothing could have prepared me for the unbridled joy of seeing Janice after Janice win an envelope stuffed with thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n

Sign up for our free music newsletter. We\u2019ve got the latest on the artists you love.<\/p>\n

THANK YOU!<\/p>\n

You’re all set.<\/p>\n

CLOSE\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\"photoMy Janice feeling the love with another Janice and DJ Just Dimy.<\/p>\n

Kat Bein for Miami New Times<\/p>\n

My Janice, Janice Dunsmore, is a 64-year-old woman set to retire this week after 30 years as a dialysis case manager. She heard about the Janice party on Good Morning America, and when her daughter texted me saying Janice wanted to go, I immediately volunteered to tag along.<\/p>\n

I was one-and-a-half Bloody Marys deep into a JRPG marathon on my couch and did not fully understand what I was signing up for. The next morning, I woke up to a hangover and a screenshot from Janice showing she\u2019d been given a +1 and to be ready by noon.<\/p>\n

Janice Dunsmore is certainly not a woman I\u2019d ever tell to \u201cSTFU,\u201d so I chugged some electrolytes, took a cold shower, and got my act together. I\u2019m so glad I did.<\/p>\n

\u201cHi, Janice!\u201d I yelled at the line of women gathered at the restaurant\u2019s door. \u201cHi, Janice!\u201d they all yelled back, giddy with anticipation. It was a surreal experience from the get-go \u2014 just a bunch of Janices introducing each other and their not-Janices.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you Janice?\u201d \u201cYes, I\u2019m Janice.\u201d \u201cOh, I\u2019m not Janice. She\u2019s Janice.\u201d \u201cJanice!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Janice ahead of us in line, Janice Bessent, came with her daughter Katelyn.<\/p>\n

\u201cI work in Hollywood,\u201d Bessent told me, \u201cand I get to hear this song three times a day every day, so it really is an apology.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell her she has to wonder if they\u2019re playing it just because they like it or because they don\u2019t like her,\u201d her daughter joked.<\/p>\n

One of those young men she works with texted her about the party, and we\u2019re sure he was jealous this morning when she walked in bragging about how she won a raffle for an envelope packed with $2,500. Hey Janice, STFU!<\/p>\n

Every Janice was handed a raffle ticket at the door, but we didn\u2019t know what they were for until about 30 minutes later. My Janice and I grabbed a spot at the head of one of three long tables set up inside the restaurant and eyed the multi-course, family-style menu. I started sweating when I read \u201c$120 per person\u201d at the top, but Janice assured me, \u201cIf we\u2019re supposed to pay for this, we\u2019re going to jail.\u201d<\/p>\n

I asked a waiter when he came for my drink order. \u201cNo, no one is paying today,\u201d he laughed. But hey, in this economy? You have to double-check.<\/p>\n

\"photoDon\u2019t worry, Drake paid for everything.<\/p>\n

Kat Bein for Miami New Times<\/p>\n

The young Janice to my right (who declined to give her last name or speak on record) came with her friend and got to chatting up my Janice over espresso martinis and fresh focaccia. After spinning a few Drake hits, DJ Just Dimy grabbed the mic and welcomed all the Janices to the party.<\/p>\n

\u201cHappy Janice to everybody,\u201d he said. \u201cI guess we\u2019re calling it Janice Day today. Sorry for the past month, from Drake. We put your name through the wringer, but today we\u2019re appreciating our Janices.\u201d<\/p>\n

He soon read off the first winning raffle ticket, and after a minute or two, the Janice to my right squealed in recognition. A woman walked up to our table and handed her an envelope. We all screamed when she opened it and pulled out a fat wad of cash.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to FaceTime my uncle!\u201d she said as she was immediately swarmed by onlookers and the event\u2019s professional camera team.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, make it so,\u201d my Janice said to me between sips of margarita. \u201cAt least $40 to cover my parking \u2014 and some for gas.\u201d<\/p>\n

A minute later, the winning Janice demurely slid a hand toward my Janice. My Janice wouldn\u2019t stop talking, so I hit her with the \u201cJanice STFU\u201d until she realized she was being given $100. My Janice tried to protest, then graciously accepted the \u201clittle retirement gift.\u201d That\u2019s Janices helping Janices, right there.<\/p>\n

The mood of the day was a constant upswing. With each passing cocktail, each delicious entree and each winning raffle ticket, the Janices (and their +1s) turned up big time. We noshed on meatballs and calamari while dancing to Drake\u2019s \u201cGirls Want Girls.\u201d I wandered around the room to meet the various Janices.<\/p>\n

Janice Spanns-Givens, a 68-year-old retired college administrator at Florida International University, came with her daughter Jasmine.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son, who is 28 \u2014 his first concert that I took him to was a Drake concert in 2013,\u201d Spanns-Givens told me. \u201cI actually have the song \u2018Janet STFU\u2019 on my playlist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janice Arroyo, a 26-year-old real estate agent from Orlando, took the Brightline down after receiving an invitation via Instagram DM that Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was fake,\u201d she said. \u201cI still responded anyway, but then when I got the email [confirmation] that\u2019s when I was like, \u2018Aw nah, this shit\u2019s got to be real.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

She wasn\u2019t the only one who made the trip. Janice Candelario, a 54-year-old middle school ELA teacher from Tampa, got a text from her son about the party in the middle of the week but didn\u2019t confirm her RSVP until Saturday. When she got the confirmation, she immediately booked a hotel, packed her bags and drove to Miami in the middle of the night. Her trip was paid for by Drake, because she won an envelope with $5,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen his latest album came out, I told my students, \u2018I have to tell you something personal. Me and Drake have beef, and he wrote a song about it,\u2019 and see? I told you we had beef!\u201d she laughed. \u201cI was happy even before the money, between this passionfruit margarita and just the vibe. This is really wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The money raffle was getting crazy. Each time a Janice won an envelope, we\u2019d gather around and count out loud each dollar that she fanned. The waiters and bartenders were getting into it, joining the Janices dancing as we all chanted \u201cGo, Janice! Go, Janice!\u201d Janices started taking shots in large Janice huddles, inviting the DJ to take shots, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a Janice,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I wish my name was Janice today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PhotoJanice Lobo turns 24 on Monday, June 29, and she won so much money, she gave up counting.<\/p>\n

Kat Bein for Miami New Times<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s cool that the name Janice is getting traction, because it\u2019s typically associated with people born around the \u201850s and \u201860s, so it\u2019s going to hopefully become a more popular name,\u201d said Janice Lobo, an occupational therapy student who turns 24 today. Her envelope was full of so many hundreds, she gave up on counting. Not a bad early birthday present. (Thanks again, Drake.)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to pay for my student loans,\u201d she beamed.<\/p>\n

By 4 p.m., as the event began to wind down, Janice was living her best life. All the Janices were taking selfies, singing along to Drake songs, digging spoons into massive towers of pistachio ice cream, waving their money in the air. I\u2019ve never seen so many happy Janice tears, or so many women who otherwise might\u2019ve never have met, hugging each other like family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like nobody wanted to be a Janice,\u201d Arroyo exclaimed to me proudly. \u201cThey used to ask me, \u2018Oh, you a baddie. What\u2019s your name? Janice? That old-lady-ass name?\u2019 Now look! Now everybody in America wanna be named Janice.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the exceptionally kind staff cleaned our plates and turned the restaurant over for public dinner service, it never once ushered Janice out prematurely or gave Janice the impression she should hurry along her way. This was all about Janice, after all. Janice can do whatever she wants.<\/p>\n

Janices lingered in Forte Dei Marmi\u2019s covered patio, not quite ready to let the day end. We all agreed that June 28 would forever be Janice Day, and the Janices made soft plans with each other to gather again next year and do it all over again.<\/p>\n

As we walked back to her car, I asked my Janice what she thought of it all, now that it was done.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was lovely,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was enlivening. It was funny, and it was poignant, just sayin\u2019. Some Janices is good. Some Janices is bad. Some Janices is dirty, and some Janices is gracious. Just, whatever you do, be your own best Janice.\u201d<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019ve got something to say to that, well, do Janice a favor and shut the fuck up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No matter who you are or what you were doing on Sunday, June 28, you didn\u2019t have as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5237,123,125,124,106534],"class_list":["post-324283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-hip-hop","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-miami-things"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}